That Blind Important Guy

The Blind Prophet

In the beginning O Brother the three recently escaped convicts come across an old and blind black man who travels along the railroads. He prophesies the future of the main characters and says "You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek. But first... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a ... cow ... on the roof of a cotton house" The prophecy outlined is much like the adventure of Odysseus and his crew. The mysterious man even foresees the floating cow, which passes by Everett just before he finds his wedding rings in the conclusion of the film. This character is an allusion to Tiresias, who was a blind seer in the Underworld. He prophesied the trials and tribulations of Odysseus' rout home in The Odyssey. The prophet also says that he works for "no man" and has "no name" echoing Odysseus' famous words, another allusion to The Odyssey.

The blind man introduced in O Brother

Tiresias appearing before Odysseus in the Underworld
Watercolour by Johan Heinrich Füsil